How I Cook: How Abby Cleans and Maintains Her Huge Chopping Board

published Mar 12, 2014
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(Image credit: Cambria Bold)

While looking through Abby’s kitchen tour yesterday, did you notice the huge chopping board on her countertop? If there’s one thing Abby believes in, it’s her John Boos cutting board. She calls it a “beast” and it never leaves her countertop. Here’s why it’s so crucial to her kitchen, and how she keeps it in top-top shape:

(Image credit: Cambria Bold)

“I don’t have a lot of kitchen stuff,” Abby says. “I use kitchen tongs, wooden spoons, a really, really sharp vegetable knife from Japan, and this beast,” she says, putting her hand on this 24″ x 18″ by 2 1/4″ John Boos cutting board. She was convinced to buy it after a good friend (who’s also a well-known chef) berated her for ruining her knives on cheap plastic cutting boards and convinced her to invest in a big wooden board instead. “It makes a ton of sense,” she says, “especially] if you’re going to invest in nice knives.”

(Image credit: Cambria Bold)

She only chops fruit, vegetables, and herbs on the big board, reserving one of her plastic cutting boards for meat and fish. The cutting board never leaves her countertop, save for a few times a year when she gives it a thorough cleaning and oil treatment. Here’s how she does it:

How Abby Cleans & Maintains Her Giant Cutting Board

She takes a half lemon dipped in course salt and scrubs the whole board down. Then she rinses the board thoroughly with hot water, and lets it dry out in the sun. When it’s dry, she brings it back inside and oils it with Black Creek Mercantile’s cutting board oil. (“You don’t have to use a lot of it,” she notes.) This keeps her board in great condition.

“I’m a big believer in this, I really am,” she says.”It looks nice, you have all your stuff on it, but there’s still plenty of workable space.”

Thanks, Abby!